SAS Nagar new battleground for PU student bodies

With Panjab University student polls around the corner, SAS Nagar seems to have emerged as a new battleground for the various party members. The area is dotted with posters of the university’s student leaders.

With Panjab University student polls around the corner, SAS Nagar seems to have emerged as a new battleground for the various party members. The area is dotted with posters of the university’s student leaders.

A number of students opt to stay in SAS Nagar in the wake of high rentals in Chandigarh, most of the electricity poles, gates of societies and various signboards can be seen dotted with posters of various student leaders of different parties.

As per the Lyngdoh committee recommendations, no one is allowed to spoil the campus by pasting printed materials during campaigning for elections, so the students have now begun targeting other areas in the city.

Coloured posters of student organisations like SOI (Student Organization of India), HSA (Hindustan Students Association) and NSUI (National Students Union of India), have been noticed particularly in SAS Nagar.

Pasted across the town, these posters are, in a way, defacing public property and traffic sign boards. The authorities too seem to have turned a blind eye to the blatant defacement in the town.

“With the number of students opting to stay in SAS Nagar and the forthcoming student council elections, the town is witnessing a kind of poster war. This is the right time to curb the menace otherwise in the days to come, this issue will only lead to more defacement,” Jasminder Singh Bedi, a resident of Phase-3b2, said.

“This cannot be allowed at any cost. We have written to the Dean Student Welfare (DSW) of Panjab University regarding defacement of public property and traffic sign boards, also asked to direct the student leaders not to paste posters on sign boards in SAS Nagar,” said Oma Shankar Gupta, MC commissioner, SAS Nagar. He added that they had also directed the students to remove the posters and in case they failed to do so, action would be taken against them.